Mo Rocca has snared an exclusive “CBS Sunday Morning” interview with Michelle Williams, who’s playing Marilyn Monroe in the upcoming big-screen flick, “My Week with Marilyn” (opening Nov. 23). It’s Williams’ first morning TV interview to promote the movie and airs this Sunday around 10 a.m.; Rocca has a separate piece on the movie airing next week on “The Early Show.”
“She carefully crafted her own image — to a genius degree,” Williams tells Rocca of Monroe. “She studied her body, her face — she figured out how to arrange her features in the most pleasing way.
“She was so witty,” Williams says. “And she could spin situations. Like when her nude photos were released, and the studio said, ‘You have to deny that it’s you’ . . . and she said, ‘Well, I can’t. My face is in the photos. And plus I was hungry, and I’ve got nothing to be ashamed of.’ ”
Rocca also asks Williams if she ever has the urge — “When you’re walking down the street in New York in the summer” — if she’s tempted to re-enact Monroe’s famous scene in the 1955 movie “The Seven Year Itch” (when her white skirt is blown upwards when she stands over a subway grate).
“Maybe at night,” Williams says, “when nobody’s watching.”
Monroe died in August 1962 at the age of 36.
Speaking of movies and stars . . . Paul Sorvino, Federico Castelluccio and Wayne Newton will begin filming a new “mob-themed romantic comedy” called “Numba One” down in Orlando, Fla. in early February. Castellucio (a co-producer) and several cast members are in Orlando this week to shoot the film’s trailer.
Written and directed by Michael Attardi, and produced by David Brookwell and Sean McNamara (“Soul Surfer”), the flick also co-stars Peter Greene, actress Jordan Ladd, Arthur Nascarella and Chris Backus.
Attardi’s previous big-screen project was the award-winning “Once Upon a Christmas Village,” an animated musical comedy starring Jim Belushi and Tim Curry.
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Tireless John Walsh —who premieres “America’s Most Wanted” on its new network, Lifetime, next month — will be the guest speaker at the 20th anniversary John A. Reisenbach Foundation Gala (Nov. 28) as its special guest speaker.
The foundation is named after a young advertising executive, John Reisenbach, who was randomly gunned down in Greenwich Village in 1990.
Last, but not least:
* The premiere of TLC’s “All-American Muslim” snared 1.7 million viewers Sunday night, performing well among women 18-34. Somewhere, Laurie Goldberg smiles . . . That was “Jerseylicious” star Tracy Dimarcos celebrating the release of her new single, “Tonight,” at the Wilshire Grand Hotel (West Orange, NJ) alongside “Mob Wives” star Drita D’Avanzo, singer Jullian James and music producer Bernadette Brennan . . . Billy Bush (“Access Hollywood Live”) will be in town this week . . . Last Sunday’s “60 Minutes” pulled in 13 million viewers, putting it in Nielsen’s Top 10 for the week . . . Chelsea Handler has inked a new deal with E!, keeping her on “Chelsea Lately” through 2014 (she’ll also continue to develop shows for E! and NBC) . . . The second season of HBO’s “The Life and Times of Tim” is out on DVD Dec. 13.
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